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A disabled single mother has won two joined appeals against the decisions to cancel her enhanced Personal Independence Payment (PIP) benefits and to revise her past entitlement to 0, which had resulted in a mistaken payments debt of over £40,000.
The appellant suffers with a chronic pain condition. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) originally decided that she was entitled to PIP at the enhanced rate for both mobility and daily living, under the Social Security (Personal Independence Payment) Regulations 2013.
However, following an allegation made to DWP, the department conducted covert surveillance of the appellant. DWP concluded on the basis of this surveillance that she had exaggerated her illness, and revised her current and previous assessment to 0 mobility and daily living points, demanding over £40,000 for past payments going back several years.
The hearing was conducted over two days in the First-Tier Tribunal, with extensive video evidence and cross-examination of both sides' witnesses. The appellant's key arguments were that DWP had failed to understand the nature of her invisible illness, and failed to consider both the repeatability and the personal impact of the assessed mobility and daily living activities as required by Reg 4(2A).
The appellant won her appeal in full, with the Tribunal concluding that she was and always had been entitled to the enhanced rate of both components of PIP (daily living and mobility). The effect of the Tribunal decision is to cancel her £40k debt, require her enhanced PIP payments to be resumed, and entitle her to over 2 years of back payments.
Alex Shattock represented the appellant, instructed pro bono by Advocate.
